A typical tank-style, gravity flow toilet comprises a tank and a bowl with the bowl sitting atop a sewage pipe. The purpose of the tank is to receive and store a quantity of water for flushing the toilet. A flush valve assembly is disposed in the tank, and includes an inlet tube that allows water under pressure to flow into the tank, to a predetermined level. A toilet flush valve is disposed in the tank and, when operated, allows the quantity of water stored in the tank to be delivered to the bowl for flushing the toilet. A typical flush valve assembly includes a “flapper-type” flush valve, including an rotatable actuator unit with a disc-like “flap” which closes off an end of a discharge pipe. A toilet flush lever controls the operation of the flush valve. The flush valve assembly is mounted in the toilet tank by means of, for example, an externally threaded discharge tube passing through the center hole at the bottom of the toilet tank and secured from the external bottom of the toilet tank by a nut. A sealing gasket sandwiched between the top collar of the discharge tube and the toilet tank bottom ensures that water does not leak from the bottom hole of the tank. One problem with traditional flush valve assemblies is that if any portion of the flush valve assembly breaks or no longer functions properly, the toilet must be drained and disassembled and then the assembly must be replaced. Often this includes turning off the main water line feeding the water supply to the toilet or bathroom.
FIGS. 1A-1C depict a typical American Standard Flush Valve. This style of valve is one of the more common flush valve systems in operation today and is used herein for exemplary purposes only. When the toilet flush lever (not shown) is operated, the lift chain (not shown) pulls at a hole 101 of the actuator unit 100, which tilts about its' fulcrum pins 102 in the fulcrum holes 103 of the support arms 104. A curved stop arm 105 on actuator unit 100, bears against a stop tab 106 on the valve body of the assembly 120, thus preventing actuator unit 100 from tilting back beyond its designed limit. With actuator unit 100 tilted, the water in the toilet tank flows through the large exposed seat 110, thus flushing the toilet. As the water level in the toilet tank lowers from this flushing action, the float controlled fill valve or ball cock (not shown) starts introducing water into the toilet tank while the water in the open cylinder 112 of actuator unit 100 empties out through the small hole 114 at the bottom of open cylinder 112. As the water in the toilet tank empties out from flushing, the tilted valve actuator 100 loses its equilibrium due to the depletion of the water through small hole 114 in the bottom of hollow cylinder 112, and the weight of the counterweight 116 and sealing disc 118 forces actuator 100 to tilt back down and seal off the seat 110. The make up water issuing from the toilet fill valve starts filling up the toilet tank and stops when it reaches the level set by the float of the filling valve (not shown). The toilet tank is now ready for the next flush. To enable operation of actuator unit 100, (1) the two support arms 104 with fulcrum holes 103 allow actuator unit 100 to tilt about, and (2) stop tab 106 on the valve body 120 of the flush valve assembly which prevents actuator unit 100 from tilting back beyond its designed limit, are essential components. These two members, support arms 104 and stop tab 106, are often manufactured from plastic materials and frequently break off during normal use, requiring that the toilet tank be dismounted from the toilet so that a new flush valve body 120, including overflow pipe 122, may be installed. In the process of renewal, the gasket between the toilet and tank plus the tank to bowl securing kit has to be renewed. This repair process is messy, costly, and time consuming.
Some alternatives have been introduced, such as redesigning the toilet flapper valve to overcome the need for renewing the flush valve body. The redesigned flapper valve option requires that the toilet flush lever be altered from a short arm type to a long arm type as the flapper needs to be raised from a vertical direction, whereas the tilt valve is rotated by a lateral force. Also, when the flapper valves is mounted on the overflow pipe 122 of the flush valve body 120 such as by a gripping mechanism around the overflow pipe 122, it tends to misalign relative to the seat 110 of the flush valve. The flapper valve arms being of rubber also tend to get warped with usage and disturb the alignment of the flapper valve with the valve seat, unlike the tilt valve which always seats positively. This leads to a toilet that doesn't quite seal properly due to the flapper not being able to seal the toilet flush valve seat fully, causing water to constantly run through the system. This is a common phenomenon known in the trade that not only causes nuisance noise but also wastes water.
Thus there is a need in the art for a device that easily replaces the damaged parts on a toilet flush system and that can readily perform the functions of a damaged and/or broken support arm(s) or stop tab on the valve body of a toilet flush system.